Earth’s First Ecosystems

Visual sources include third-party material incorporated into custom animations. License information is reproduced from source records; an unrecorded license does not mean a work is public domain.

• ARCHIVED – NASA Astrobiology - Strap in – it’s time to meet your ancient ancestors! Fossilized micro...

  ARCHIVED – NASA Astrobiology

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• Scientific figure · source page 4

  Raphael J. Baumgartner et al.

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  Editorial use; no open license asserted.

• Thermophiles (1)

  Hugo Sindelar and the Science and Natural History Filmmaking MFA program at Montana State University; hosted by Yellowstone National Park

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• Transmission electron micrograph of cells of C. lacus sp. nov. YLOS41

  Jing Zhang, Cheng Gao, Xue-Mei Yu, He-Yuan Lun and Zong-Jun Du

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• Transmission electron micrograph of Methanomassiliicoccus luminyensis B10T

  Kletzin A, Heimerl T, Flechsler J, van Niftrik L, Rachel R and Klingl A (2015) Dridi, B., Fardeau, M., Ollivier, B., Raoult, D., & Drancourt, M. (2012)

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• Diaphragmatic breathing 1

  User:Girabbit85

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• Water wheel looped Unterreichenbach

  Frank Vincentz, (looped gif by Jahobr )

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Snímek ze skenovacího elektronového mikroskopu Methanobacterium formicicum

  Andreia F. Salvador, Gilberto Martins, Manuel Melle-Franco, Ricardo Serpa, Alfons J.M. Stams, Ana J. Cavaleiro, M. Alcina Pereira, M. Madalena Alves

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• Deep-Ocean Bites: Microbes and Chemosynthesis - NOAA Ocean Exploration (1)

  NOAA Ocean Exploration and National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

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• Ocean core sediments on the Polarstern

  Hannes Grobe , AWI

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• Cow in Field image

  Kanimozhi Vennila

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• Banded iron formation Milano

  L. Shyamal

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• Shark Bay (MODIS 2021-06-21)

  MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

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• Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay - Western Australia - 27 Aug. 2014

  Bryn Pinzgauer

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• Living stromatolites, Shark Bay, Western Australia

  Ed Landing & Markes E. Johnson (in: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2024)

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• Stromatolite (Strelley Pool Formation, Paleoarchean, 3.35-3.46 Ga; East Strelley Greenstone Belt, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia) 3 (16750046154)

  James St. John

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• Guerrero Negro hypersaline microbial mat at 1 mm resolution (Figure 1)

  Araceli M. Sarabia-Lemus et al.; panel A photo credit Jose Q. Garcia Maldonado

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• Dresser Formation stromatolite drill-core sample

  Australian Centre for Astrobiology (@AussieAstrobio)

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• Strelley Pool Formation stromatolite lamination, detailed field view

  Charlie Verdel (@CSVerdel)

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• Stromatolite (Strelley Pool Formation, Paleoarchean, 3.35-3.46 Ga; East Strelley Greenstone Belt, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia) 2 (17186345399)

  James St. John

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• RCSB PDB 3WU2 photosystem II biological assembly

  RCSB Protein Data Bank; structure by Umena et al.

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• 2010 Filamentous Cyanobacteria Bloom near Fiji

  Norman Kuring

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Kelp forest at Strawberry Rocks PC013138

  Peter Southwood

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Green leaf with sunlight

  Joselodos

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Harmful Water Organisms (21461433360)

  U.S. Geological Survey from Reston, VA, USA

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• PDB 1n2c EBI

  Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute

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• Researchers examining fresh Moodies Group drill cores

  Martin Homann (@matworlds)

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• Scientific figure · source page 16

  Martin Homann et al.

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  Editorial use; no open license asserted.

• Cryptobiotic soil - Flickr - brewbooks

  brewbooks from near Seattle, USA

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• Red Lake NGI10-31 stratigraphy and geochemistry (Figure 1)

  Fuencisla Canadas et al.

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  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gbi.12610 ↗
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926807001234 ↗
3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0610-4 ↗
4. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21377 ↗
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4664351/ ↗
6. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-earth-040523-124821 ↗
7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11242044/ ↗
8. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02888 ↗
9. https://reinhard.gatech.edu/uploads/5/4/1/0/54106417/thompsonetal2019.pdf ↗
10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2572968/ ↗
11. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0190-9 ↗
12. homann 2018 moodies terrestrial mats ↗
13. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14180 ↗
14. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6763417/ ↗
15. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5972617/ ↗
16. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09913 ↗
17. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2004/cp/b408980d ↗
18. https://www.rcsb.org/structure/3WU2 ↗
19. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6492235/ ↗
20. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3710856/ ↗
21. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3816460/ ↗
22. https://www.rcsb.org/structure/9E0J ↗
23. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2427090122 ↗
24. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8479356/ ↗
25. https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf035/7997033 ↗
26. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09009-8 ↗
27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06896-7 ↗
28. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax1420 ↗
29. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8724090/ ↗
30. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69826-x ↗
31. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2483411/ ↗
32. guerrero negro microbial mat layers ↗
33. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-16651-z ↗
34. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0070457108711476 ↗
35. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6452703/ ↗
36. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01678-4 ↗
37. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1864812 ↗
38. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37027472/ ↗
39. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7043912/ ↗
40. https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/primary-productivity-was-limited-by-electron-donors-prior-to-the-/ ↗
41. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12329438/ ↗
42. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1815573 ↗
43. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/tumbiana-stromatolite/ ↗
44. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0106 ↗
45. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3870916/ ↗
46. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15263 ↗
47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.11.028 ↗
48. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1238 ↗
49. moody 2025 metabolisms ↗
50. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04584 ↗
51. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X09000296 ↗
52. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.21919 ↗
53. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322120121 ↗
54. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-earth-060313-054810 ↗
55. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10808959/ ↗
56. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12493910/ ↗
57. https://gfzpublic.gfz.de/pubman/faces/ViewItemFullPage.jsp?itemId=item_5038297_1 ↗
58. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01690-8 ↗
59. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17901330/ ↗
60. https://pages.uoregon.edu/slouca/LoucaLab/SECTION_Publications/MODULE_Publications/Files/Husain2026Molecular.pdf ↗
61. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40770997/ ↗
62. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27589-7 ↗
63. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8480925/ ↗
64. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02461-1 ↗
65. https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2417673121 ↗
66. https://www.nasa.gov/ochmo-tb-004-carbon-dioxide-2/ ↗
67. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20200002230/downloads/20200002230.pdf ↗
68. https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/stromatolites ↗
69. https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=A0628AB3-1DD8-B71B-0B9CE4242E4C96A7 ↗
70. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3935151/ ↗
71. DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12610 ↗
72. baumgartner 2024 dresser archimer ↗
73. buck reef chert 2019 ↗
74. buck reef chert 2019 pdf ↗
75. canadas 2025 red lake ↗
76. guerrero negro microbial mat layers pdf ↗
77. horne 2025 early oxygen delays goe ↗
78. westall 2025 earliest life ↗

Music

• Meditation From The Star Orion
  OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements